Houthi missile strike on Yemen training camp kills at least 53 recruits, officials say

Houthi ballistic missiles struck a training camp in Yemen's Shabwa province on Monday, killing at least 53 security recruits and wounding more than 200, according to local authorities cited by BBC News and PBS NewsHour, which carried an Associated Press report.

PBS reported that the Shabwa provincial government called the toll preliminary and warned it could climb. According to BBC News, a spokesman for Yemen's Saudi-backed armed forces said three missiles were launched at al-Alam camp, close to the city of Ataq. The province's media office gave the facility's name as the Martyr Ahmed al-Sulaimani Training Centre. Trainees there had come from several provinces to prepare for service in the internal security forces.

A Yemeni military official, speaking anonymously to the AP, said the recruits were lined up for a training drill when the missiles hit. Shabwa's deputy governor, Fahad al-Khalifi, told AFP that hospitals across the province could not cope and that the worst-hurt patients were sent on to Hadramout and Aden, BBC News reported.

The Houthis acknowledged carrying out the strike. BBC News reported that their military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, described the target as a concentration of "Saudi enemy" forces and claimed Saudi officers ran the camp. Saudi officials gave no immediate response.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, denounced the attack and vowed a "firm response," both outlets said. BBC News reported that Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani labeled it a war crime, saying the centre had no military role. PBS said provincial leaders asked for air defence and early warning systems to be sent to Shabwa more quickly.

Both outlets placed the strike among the deadliest of the current escalation, though their background accounts differ. BBC News said an informal truce started collapsing in July, while PBS said the renewed fighting broke a 2022 ceasefire and linked it to a broader Iran war that started in February. BBC News said government forces, aided by Saudi-led air power, had won back part of the Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait that the Houthis took in September; PBS said the coalition began an offensive this month aimed at recapturing that area.

The outlets also covered a Sunday air strike blamed on Saudi-led forces in Saada, a northern province under Houthi control. Citing Houthi-run media, BBC News put the dead at 10 or more, with 23 hurt. PBS, citing the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said no fewer than nine died, five of them children and two women.

Both outlets noted that the Houthis have targeted Saudi airports, oil and energy sites, and military installations. According to BBC News, Houthi strikes on Saudi airports have left at least 19 dead since early October.

Compiled by True News from reporting by BBC News and PBS NewsHour. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/251